Carbon SequestrationSoil
Carbon SequestrationCould
Renewable Soil be thesecret
weapon the world is looking for?Enhance
biological activity in the terrestrial
biosphere and improve the productivity of agricultural land.

Deep-rooted PerennialsPerennial
GroundcoverSequestering
carbon in
soils by fostering deep-rooted
perennial plant species that have
significant biomass in their root systems.

The
'greening
of a brown land'
would increase soil carbon sequestration, increase soil moisture
retention, reduce heat radiation and reduce the concentration of both
CO2 and water vapour in the atmosphere. These factors would reverse the
'Global Warming Effect'. As a bonus, the adoption of Yearlong Green
Farming techniques would markedly improve the productivity of
agricultural
land.

Dr Christine Jones

17 Jan 2011The Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) explained

The Federal Government recently announced the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) framework, a scheme whereby farmers, foresters and landholders will be able to generate and trade carbon credits to create additional income. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) will be receiving submissions on its consultation paper Design of the Carbon Farming Initiative up to close of business on 21 January 2011.

Agriculture and forestry currently account for approximately 23% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. The CFI is intended to provide a strong incentive to identify and implement low-cost methods to reduce emissions arising from the agriculture and forestry sectors.

Abatement activities
Under the proposed CFI, farmers and landholders will be able to generate credits from projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon.

Farmers, foresters and landholders will be able to create tradeable carbon credits from the eligible abatement activities and then sell them domestically and internationally. International buyers will include governments with obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, companies with emissions obligations and organisations voluntarily offsetting their emissions. Domestic buyers will include companies with offsetting obligations under state regulations as well as organisations voluntarily offsetting their emissions. Credits can be sold through market exchanges, carbon brokers or directly to buyers. Income tax and GST provisions will apply to the carbon credits.

National Carbon Offset Standard
Under the scheme, only credits that meet the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) are considered suitable to contribute to the scheme. The NCOS requires internationally recognised standards to be met to ensure that any achieved abatement is real and verifiable. The core requirements that must be met under the NCOS are additionality and permanency.

The environmental integrity of the CFI scheme will directly affect its success. As a consequence, the government has established the Domestic Offsets Integrity Committee (DOIC). The DOIC is an independent expert panel that will assess proposed methods for use under the CFI scheme and assess whether they meet the NCOS standards. CFI methodology will be developed by DCCEE and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, as well as private project developers.

Each methodology will be required to outline the abatement activities, procedures to determine baseline emissions, procedures to identify and estimate leakage, measurements, monitoring and reporting requirements. Once approved, the methodologies will become legislative instruments of the CFI legislation. A particular methodology must be approved for a crediting period of three years to ensure continuous improvement of methodologies.

Participation
Farmers, foresters and landholders are able to participate in the CFI scheme by obtaining necessary approvals and managing and reporting the project themselves, using a service provider to assist them, or agreeing to have an offset aggregator company undertake the activity on their land.

Projects must be approved by the CFI scheme administrator to be eligible for participation. It is proposed that reporting to the administrator occur annually and during the crediting period, and that the report be independently audited.

The legislation is expected to be put before the Commonwealth Parliament in the first half of 2011, with the scheme proposed to commence on 1 July 2011.

How can DLA Phillips Fox help you?
DLA Phillips Fox can help you navigate your way through the complex issues of the CFI. We can:

Prepare a submission on your behalf if you wish to comment on the CFI consultation paper.

Help you understand your obligations and liabilities regarding maintenance of the carbon stock used to generate the credits.

Familiarise you with the standards that you need to comply with under the NCOS to ensure that your project qualifies for the CFI carbon credits.

[1] Additionality requires emission abatements to be 'additional' to any emission abatement achieved though ordinary business operations, meaning that a project must result in abatement that would not have occurred without the implementation of the scheme.

[2] Permanency relates to any offset projects involving the long-term storage of carbon in soil, plants and other carbon sinks and requires the carbon to be captured for at least 100 years to provide genuine removal of carbon from the atmosphere.

The
Woodlands, Texas – May 4, 2008 – The National Algae Association
announces its Algae Commercialization Business Plan, Research,
and
Networking Forum. Algae oil production companies, algae
researchers
and algaeprenuers will present leading-edge technologies for
commercialization of the “new oil” on July 17th in The Woodlands,
Texas. The NAA brings companies and researchers together to share
ideas and exchange information to overcome technological hurdles and
commercialize this fast growing renewable oil industry.

Current high oil prices, the collapse of food-for-fuel initiatives and
concerns about increased levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere have
all created awareness of the need for alternative fuel solutions. Algae
has emerged as one of the lowest cost feedstocks for the biofuels and
cellulosic industries. Algae is considered to be a promising source of
renewable oil which can be processed and refined into a variety of
transportation fuels.

Recent breakthroughs in pond development and closed end loop systems
put algae oil production companies on the leading-edge of the renewable
oil industry.

Some challenges:

a) identifying the best suitable algae
strains with the largest extraction rates.

b)
standardizing photobioreactor (PBR)
technologies

c)
developing new CO2 injection methods

d)
monitoring nutrient levels for efficient
algae growth rates

e)
finding cost effective oil extraction
methodologies

Algae can be refined to make biofuel, jet fuel, bio-gasoline and
cellulosic materials such as pharmacueticals, cosmetics, plastics and
green packaging.

Adding
organic matter to farmland is good for soil quality and crop yields,
both short-term and long-term. Continuous no-till is an efficient way
of doing this. Cover crops and manure also help raise carbon levels. If
you want to sequester carbon to reduce global warming (and possibly
receive a small annual payment) think of it as a bonus for being a good
farmer. Soil carbon sequestration is a natural, cost-effective, and
environmentally-friendly process. Once sequestered, carbon remains in
the soil as long as restorative land use, continuous no-till, and other
Best Management Practices are followed. It is a win-win option. While
mitigating climate change by off-setting fossil fuel emissions, it also
improves quality of soil and water resources, enhances agronomic
productivity, and buys us time to identify and implement viable
alternatives to fossil fuel.

"Decreased
soil carbon levels have been recorded worldwide under most current
broadacre cropping and grazing regimes. This soil carbon has been
emitted to the atmosphere.

It
is sobering to compare the CO2 emissions from soil with those from the
burning of fossil fuels. Dr Rattan Lal, Professor of Soil Science at
Ohio State University and Director, Carbon Management and Sequestration
Center, USA, has calculated that 476 Gt
of carbon has been emitted from farmland soils due to inappropriate
farming and grazing practices, compared with 270
Gt
emitted from over 150 years of burning of fossil fuels.

These
trends can be reversed by increasing the photosynthetic capacity of the
landscape through the adoption of Yearlong Green Farming (YGF)
techniques."

We are riding a new wave of industrial revolution into the RENEWABLE ENERGY AGE. Renewable Energies bring only advantages and no burden to the world.

The ECO SUSTAINABLE PLANET and ECO SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY sections often overlap - as crops become fuel and microorganisms make electricity - the line is blurred and indeed that is the desired 'interconnectedness' effect.

All these exciting new green technologies could become marketable at any time. To clarify exactly what is available now, you'll find WAPSEC is in the business of WATER & POWER SECURITY. WAPSEC supplies 'wholistec' solutions with leading-edge technology from Germany and Australia.

ECO SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY Ecology and Technology working together in synergy. SUSTAINABLE is 24 x 7. ECO SUSTAINABLE is when there's no waste. The waste product of one process is fuel for the next.

THE AGE of ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY - inspiration leads to innovation, and solutions provide engineers and architects methodologies to green the world. Man learns to live with the planet.